


Late Night Escapades

by EndOfStoryGoodbyeTheEnd



Series: 10 Detentions Dished Out to Troublemakers [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-29 01:59:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15719613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EndOfStoryGoodbyeTheEnd/pseuds/EndOfStoryGoodbyeTheEnd
Summary: "Daria wasn't a fan of authority and never feared punishment. When she discovered the Marauders and their pranking, rule breaking ways, she never looked back."Laurie Berg was bound to slip up at some point.





	Late Night Escapades

Laurie was tired. Really tired. So tired she didn’t even notice where she was going. Her best friend Daria held her arm as she pulled Laurie down the hall. 

“Laurie, are you even listening? Lauren?” Daria stopped and shook Laurie impatiently. 

Laurie blinked. “What? Oh, I’m sorry ‘Ria, I’m just tired,” she apologized.

Daria sighed. “That’s what you get for staying up so late.”

“I had to, the exams are so soon,” Laurie explained, shaking her head, as the conversation cleared her sleep deprived mind just a little. “I was studying so late, I didn’t even notice the library closing,” Daria started pulling her along again.

“Yes, well, if you try and take them while exhausted, you will fail,” Daria promised her.

“I know. I just-” but as Laurie started, something barreled into her, sending her sprawling hard on the stone floor. Her bag hit the ground, sending her things scattering all over the floor. Her arm was ripped out of Daria’s grip by the force of the collision. 

Daria let out a screech of indignation. “Hey, watch where you’re-”

Laurie looked up to see Daria looking down the hall with her hands over her mouth in surprise. Next to Daria was a boy. A tall, skinny, looking boy with pale brown hair. He looked quite a bit older than Laurie and Daria. 

“James, get back here! You knocked a girl over!” the boy yelled over Laurie’s head at the person who caused the collision. 

“Moony, we have to-”

“You can’t knock over a person without apologizing and helping them up!” snapped the boy over Laurie. 

“Oh come on- fine, fine, SIRIUS! I KNOCKED SOMEONE OVER, HOLD UP!”

The boy came running back up the hallway, and Laurie started. James Potter. Daria’s second favorite person in the entire universe. Then she realized that in her confusion she hadn’t noticed why Daria was acting so surprised. Daria had realized who the skinnier boy standing over her was. Remus Lupin. Daria’s third favorite person.

“Here you go,” James hurriedly pulled Laurie to her feet, then dropped to his knees and began gathering her stuff and shoving it haphazardly into her bag. When Sirius Black came striding down the hall to see what was taking so long, Laurie almost fell over again. Daria’s favorite person in the world. This was great, just great. She had studying to do, and Daria was never going to let this go. 

Daria wasn't a fan of authority and never feared punishment. When she discovered the Marauders and their pranking, rule breaking ways, she never looked back. She tried and tried to come up with pranks and break the rules the way they did. Despite her charisma, she couldn't effortlessly command attention the way the boys were able to. But oh, did she try. 

Right now, however, in the moment that counted, she was speechless. Laurie sighed, unable to stay silent while her friend missed her chance. Laurie was shy, uncontentious, and rather afraid of talking to people. But Laurie was also tired, annoyed, and a good friend. So she spoke.

“Hey, my friend Daria idolizes you guys,” she said quietly, gesturing at Daria, who flushed. 

“Laurie-” she started, tugging on some of her dark hair nervously. 

“Oh, a fan,” Sirius said, smiling winningly at Daria. 

“We don’t have time, Sirius,” James whined, bouncing from foot to foot. 

“You like pulling pranks?” Sirius asked. 

“Ye-yeah, I like them,” Daria stuttered, still looking stunned. 

Laurie snorted, a rush of something akin to courage running through her. She felt rather… brave. “She’s joking, she doesn’t like them, she lives for them. Her best one, I believe, was when she made a potion that transfigured a horrible kid in our year into an antelope. He was stuck that way for a couple hours.”

Sirius’s eyes bugged out of his head. “You were the first year who did that? Oh, we were so impressed, do you remember that last year, James?”

James fidgeted. “Sirius…”

“She is kind of cool, James. She taught that kid a lesson. Plus, we only discovered Transfiguring potions in our second year. Could we possibly take a moment of our time to talk to her?”

“Sirius,” James snapped. “We have a huge project planned and the timing of it is really sensitive!” 

Sirius shrugged. “Well, we could just bring ‘em along.” 

James paused, thinking. Laurie’s bravado deflated like a popped balloon. This was sooo, not what she had wanted. She’d been hoping for a conversation for her friend, not a whole night cavorting and pranking in secret. 

“Why not?” James said, his face brightening. “We could use a new protégé. The last one wasn’t up to your standards.” 

Remus snorted. “You mean he wasn’t female. In fact, it doesn’t even matter, because these are two little Second Years I will not allow you to corrupt. I am a Prefect. I shouldn’t be out this late, let alone encouraging younger children to do the same,” he crossed his arms. “Nope, you can’t, Sirius.” 

Sirius had assumed a rather confrontational pose, so Laurie decided to intervene before anything could happen. Might as well use her confidence while it lasted. 

“Hey, that’s okay, thanks for the offer, but we have exams in the morning, so-”

“We’ll follow you anyways,” Daria interjected. 

“Absolutely not,” Laurie spun to face her, eyes wide.

Her friend’s dark eyes pleaded with her. “Please, Laurie. You know I want this. Pleeeeeeease?”

Brown eyes battled hazel for a second, until Laurie finally sighed. “Oh, fine. But you owe me sooooo much, Daria Riviera. So much.” 

Daria hugged her quickly before turning to her idols. 

“We’ll follow you. It would be more beneficial to keep us close so we won’t give you up to a teacher if we get caught,” Daria said smoothly, already back on firm feet, her starstruck haze gone.

Sirius let out a barking laugh. “Ooh, anyone who can find a loophole in Remus’s logic is alright with me. Daria Riviera, is it? And your friend?”

“Laurie Berg,” Laurie told him through an exasperated sigh. 

“I just…” Remus cut himself off with his own enormous sigh as he watched Sirius lead a slightly embarrassed Daria down the hall, his arm tossed over her shoulder. “They make me so tired. Laurie, right?” he asked, starting off after his friends and gesturing for her to follow. 

Laurie would have to tell Daria that Remus was her new favorite person in the world. 

“Hi, Laurie,” said a quiet voice. Laurie jumped, not having noticed Peter Pettigrew approach during all the chaos. 

“Hi,” she said, shyness returning as she realized what she was doing. She was walking around the castle, definitely after they were supposed to be in bed, with four of the most notorious troublemakers the castle had ever seen. And on the night before exams, for Merlin’s sake!

“Let’s see if we can try and have a little fun, shall we?” Remus said, smiling at her in a resigned sort of way. 

She flushed. “Okay.”

They hurried down the hall. All four Marauders seemed to know where teachers and patrolling prefects were. They didn’t even come close to getting caught once. Remus kept up a calm, hushed conversation with Laurie the whole time, so she barely had a chance to remember the rules they were breaking. Their first night with the Marauders was well spent, even though the majority of time was spent setting up the place Laurie and Daria would be taking exams the following morning. 

From what Laurie could see, the prank was more flashy and ceremonial than unique or clever, but still was executed with the utmost professionalism and skill. Daria took it all in, eyes wide and excited. She put in a few suggestions that had Sirius and James grinning wider than ever. Laurie observed from the side, but when Remus was finishing the last piece of their haphazard puzzle, Laurie noticed a tiny flaw. 

When exams began, the fireworks would already be in place. They were charmed to go off at the key word ‘Times up!’ But, in the position they were in currently, they would explode downwards, and may setting fire to the exams when Professor Flitwick collected them. 

“Remus,” she said quietly, putting a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. “If you angle them that way, they might burn people’s tests. If you angle them upward, they’ll bounce around the ceiling. They-”

“-might even collide and create explosions!” he finished in tandem with her. “Great idea Laurie!”

Laurie flushed and grinned. 

“James, Sirius!” Remus said, and the two boys looked at him. “Laurie just pointed something out to me. Tell them, Laurie.”

Laurie’s grin faded. “Um-” she started nervously, and Daria eyed her sympathetically. 

“Remus, can you just-” Daria started, coming to her friends rescue. 

“Oh, of course, sorry,” Remus said quickly, noticing Laurie’s discomfort. “Laurie said that if we angle the fireworks like this, they could set fire to people’s exams. If we angle them upward, they could bounce around the ceiling and might even collide and explode.”

James and Sirius looked at each other, deep in thought. “That’s true,” James said briskly. “The new angle is certainly more destructive. Sirius, I think we found ourselves a Remus 2.0. Do both of them pass your test? Are they female enough for you?”

Daria was holding her breath. So was Laurie, though she wasn’t quite sure why. 

Sirius nodded carefully. “That one’s fine,” he said, gesturing to Daria. “But I’m not sure about that one,” he said, his hand waving at Laurie. Her heart sank, surprising her. Had she enjoyed the outing that much?

Daria’s face fell. “Laurie-” she started, her expression sad.

“Remus, you aren’t feminine enough for me,” Sirius said, and then dramatically put his hand over his eyes. “You are dismissed.”

Laurie and Daria both glanced at each other in confusion. Remus rolled his eyes.

“I am not up for feminine debate, Sirius. Laurie and Daria are the ones being inducted,” Remus explained dryly.

“Whoops, sorry, my bad!” Sirius sang. James chuckled. “No, Laurie and Daria pass with flying colors,” Sirius said, smiling.

Daria’s face split into a huge grin, and Laurie felt a weight in her stomach she hadn’t previously known was there disappear. 

She had a group of friends now. It wasn’t just her and Daria; It was her, Daria, and the Marauders.

**Author's Note:**

> This one is super old and not my favorite, but I love the next one so look forward to that one! :)


End file.
